From DailyTech: Before 2013, Intel had seen several years of aggressive updates to the Core i-Series. Each spring would bring fresh announcements of "ticks" (die shrinks) or "tocks" (architecture refreshes), which would alternate on a yearly basis. By the summer months, these chips would have found their way into high-end laptop models.
But eyed more carefully, signs of slippage to Intel's breakneck pace have been showing. Sandy Bridge, the second generation of Core i-Series processor launched in Jan. 2011 (Q1 2011) and began shipping almost immediately. Ivy Bridge -- the third generation Core i-Series chips -- were released a bit later, right at the start of Q2 2012 in April 2012. As the release -- a die shrink to 22 nanometers -- brought the tricky-to-manufacture 3D FinFET technology to the table, most wrote off this slippage as natural.
Likewise last year's Haswell, Intel's 22 nm architecture refresh, slid back a few more months to June 2013. Some did notice this time, with rumors mounting that the die shrink to 14 nm -- Broadwell -- might be delayed until 2015. It turned out the reports were somewhat true -- Intel was suffering much higher defect rates than previously expected -- but Intel insisted that Broadwell chips would be delayed only a quarter, to Q1 2014.
But Q1 2014 (Jan. to Mar.) came and went and Broadwell still was a no-show in terms of shipments to OEMs. In an April 2014 earnings call, CEO Brian Krzanich insisted that the wait was almost over, saying that the chips would ship sometime in H2 2014. Most hoped this might mean Q3 2014, in time for the August-September back to school shopping season.
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